


The Book of Sabel

by meningitisyee



Series: Sons of Dathomir [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Force Ghost(s), Gen, Maul's Legacy, Rebellion, Saving the galaxy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:20:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25631194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meningitisyee/pseuds/meningitisyee
Summary: Sabel, son of Darth Maul and last of the Nightbrother Clan, reels from the loss of both his parents in 2BBY. Sabel is exceptionally gifted in the force, it swirls around him like no other. And the Emperor knows this, and would like nothing more than to capture Sabel and train him as a Sith. Following the deaths of his parents, Sidious picks up on the trail of the boy, and attempts to track him down. Sabel flees his home on Alderaan, escaping the Emperor's grasp and effectively jettisoning himself into the vast unknown of space.Along the way he will gain insight from some familiar faces and will bring balance to force. But his father's legacy taints people's view of him. Nobody knew the real Maul except for his mother. And slowly, he will start to find out why.
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano/Original Character(s), Obi-Wan Kenobi/Original Character(s), Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious/Original Character(s)
Series: Sons of Dathomir [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857832
Kudos: 4





	1. Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is the second part of my series, Sons of Dathomir. If you haven't read the first work, Of Monsters and Men, I strongly suggest you do. It isn't very long, only about 32k words. I think it will clear up a couple things in this story. We start off in 2BBY, and the story will continue from there.

It felt unreal when my mother died.

She was in perfect health six days ago, before the death of my father. But she seemed to wither away after his demise.

I don't remember my father. My mother says he was around in my childhood, up until just after my fourth birthday. She said that he left to protect us, but I don't know if I believe that.

The day he died, I was twelve and just idly listening to the HoloNet at my mother's house. I felt a tremor in the force, nothing like I had ever felt before.

My mother had just begun to teach me about the force, and she said I was exponentially more powerful than her and my father. She taught me to meditate, to listen to its whispers and follow its will.

I had never felt a tremor like this before, I was flooded with echos of sorrow, anguish, and regret.

This left me confused and with a massive headache. I placed my hands on either sides of my head, massaging the base of my temporal horns.

I got up from my seat on the couch and went to the bathroom. I turned the faucet on and splashed cool water on my face.

The headache eased and I looked up at the reflection that stared back at me. I was only twelve, but the tattoos that paraded across my crimson skin made me look older. I saw the reflection of the man my mother said I was the spitting image of. A man that I do not remember.

When the pounding in my head was completely subsided, I made my way out to my mother. She was sitting outside, hunched over on the ground. I saw tears reflecting the light from the stars.

"Mom?" I called out.

Her voice was shaky, but she made it sound as strong as she could for me.

"Yes, my love?"

"Something's wrong... something feels different, I don't know what it is." I said.

I was growing worried now. I felt my mother's emotions thundering through the force.

"Come, Sabel. Sit." she motioned for me to sit on the ground next to her.

She stared up at the sky for a minute before speaking.

And she told me of my father. A more in depth version now. She started with his birth on Dathomir to when he was taken by a Sith Lord. He was taken from his mother's arms when he was but a toddler, and raised by the cruel hands of the Sith Lord.

She moved onto his role in the Invasion of Naboo, something I had read about only in my studies at school. My father turned out to be the mysterious Sith who killed one Jedi and was presumably killed by another.

How could my father have been such a dark and tainted person? I looked at who my mother was, a bright beacon of pure light in the force. How could she have loved someone like that.

She reminded me that the choice to be a Sith was not his own, but it didn't help much.

Apparently, my father, whom mother said was called Maul, lost both his legs when he dueled the second Jedi. From there, he escaped in a disposal unit to the junk planet of Lotho Minor, where he remained for over a decade. Then his brother, my uncle found him. I was upset to find out that I had another uncle. Kolin, my mother's brother, has been close to me for as long as I can remember. 

Together, they amassed a following in the criminal underworld and became very powerful. However, the brother was soon killed by my father's former Sith Master.

His subsequent capture and rescue lead to the near extinction of the Nightbrother clan. Leaving him as the sole remainder of the population.

This was when my mother came into his life.

She said they healed each other and were brought happiness that neither had felt in their entire lives. One I was born, Maul left Crimson Dawn to dedicate his life to us. 

Maybe my father wasn't as bed as I thought. Maybe he was just broken and worn down before my mother met him. I don't remember him though. So I'm not sure what to think of the man.

She then told me that the tremor in the force we felt was Maul. He was gone.

I was sad, my chances of ever meeting the man died with him. 

A tear slid down my cheek. Despite never remembering him, he was my father, and that had to be something.

He left behind everything he loved just so they could have a chance to have a better life. He chose to put himself in danger and lead Sidious away from us so that we could be free.

But I couldn't even live with my mother all the time. My mom had met Sidious before, so he could possibly trace her through the force. But my father took that into account. He laced the ring my mother gave him with her force presence, making it more of a beacon than her natural state was. But for safe measure, I lived with my Uncle Kolin in the capital city of Alderaan, while my mother resided three hours away in the countryside.

In the wake of Maul's death, she started withering away.

At first she just seemed to be tired or out of breath all day. When the third day came and she couldn't walk, I called Kolin. We all knew her time was nearing.

On the fourth day, she seemed out of focus, not really hearing anything we said. Distracted, that's the word. That day she showed me a holorecording of my father. I really did look like him. My tattoos differed slightly, but the facial resemblance was uncanny. The main difference was my blue eyes, the same ones my mother had in comparison to his golden and red ones.

I listened to his message, a final declaration of love and devotion to my mother and I. That moment, I got a true glance of who my father was. Under the years of suffering, anger, and hate, was a genuine person who only wanted to be loved and love his family.

On the fifth day, she seemed even weaker and distracted. Her gaze lingered on the chair beside her bed, locked onto the thin air. I did however feel a presence, familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time. It seemed centered on that chair. Maybe it was Maul standing by my mother's side one last time. Who knows.

My mother died on the sixth day. It was peaceful and she was at ease as she slipped into force.

Kolin held me tight as I cried over my mother's lifeless form. We buried her that afternoon. In her hands was the ring that my father gave to her a decade ago. We gave her a small grave by the stream, marked with a tall stone at its head. On the stone, I carved two characters, V.R., her initials.

Kolin and I ate at her house. we shared fond memories and stories, cherishing her life. 

Even though she was gone from the physical world, I never really felt alone. I felt her presence around me always, along with another one that I couldn't quite place.


	2. Premature Departure

I didn't have much time to mourn with my uncle. 

Because the next day Kolin felt him.

And by him, I mean the bastard that brought my family so much pain. 

Sidious.

We saw the Star Destroyers hovering above our atmosphere. It was time to go.

My mother left all her money to me, which Kolin transferred into a galactic bank under the name Sabel Hass.

Kolin took me to the space port where his ship was docked.

"Its time to go Sabel."

"You're not coming?" I asked, dejectedly.

"No I'm not. I'll stay here to throw them off your scent."

"I can't do this alone Kolin."

"Yes, you can. I know you can." He said. "I taught you how to fly when you were ten and you have already surpassed my abilities."

"I'm scared, where will I go?" I asked, pleading with him to stay with me.

"Listen to the force, Sabel, it will guide you." He said, placing his golden brown hand on my cheek. "This ship has a cloaking device that I engineered, it is undetectable to the Imperial ships, but you must go now."

I hugged him tight.

"May the force be with you, Sabel."

"And with you, Kolin." I smiled as a tear made its way down the side of my face.

I heard the shuttles entering the atmosphere, I had to go.

I flew to the cockpit and took a seat in the pilot's chair that was way too big for my twelve year old body. I powered the ship on and activated the cloaking device. I flew out of the hangar, speeding towards the atmosphere. The planet was already blockaded. Thanks to Kolin's little addition, I slipped past, unnoticed. But I needed to go somewhere before I was noticed. If I got into a hyperspace lane, I could plot a course from there.

I put the calculations in for the Commenor Run, unsure of where to go.

I pushed the lever, and the stars around me faded, leaving behind my childhood and all that I had ever known. I was on my own.

I left the pilots seat and sat down on the cold metal floor of the cockpit. I sat in the meditative position that my mother taught me.

No, now was not the time to cry. I needed to get somewhere safe.

I tuned out the hum of the engines propelling me through hyperspace and I focused inwards, trying to listen for the force. I sat for about twenty minutes in silence, not hearing much of anything.

"Ugh, this is useless!" I stood up and put my head in my hands.

I took a deep breath.

I centered myself and sat back down. I focused on the energy around me. Letting it flow freely about the cabin.

Then I heard it, a whisper. It was incoherent, but then they grew louder and more intelligible.

They all seemed to be saying the same thing, but I just couldn't make it out.

"Tell me, tell me where to go."

The whispers fell silent for a moment, and I thought I had lost them.

But then one whisper, that of a man, spoke up. His voice was familiar, it was the voice of my father, the one who I heard through the holorecording. He spoke softly, but clearly.

"Dathomir."

I pulled myself out of the force and stood up, a little lightheaded.

I made my way to the pilot's seat.

I pulled up the navigation computer. I have to take the Commenor Run all the way to Brentaal, then quickly make the jump putting me on the Hydian Way.

Brentaa was in the deep core, and most likely had a slew of Imperial ships monitoring hyperspace travel. My cloaking device would work for a little, but I did't want to test my luck with how long I could hold out.

I spent the remainder of my time on the Commenor Run staring out at the blue streaks.

I still had a good two hours until I would reach Brentaal, so I closed my eyes once more and let the force envelope me.

Then the force tugged on my consciousness, until I was looking at the same cockpit I was sitting in, except I wasn't there. Instead, what looked like an older version of myself sat in the pilot's seat as the blue streaks of hyperspace. He turned his head slightly and I saw his golden eyes, this wasn't me, this was my father.

He was speaking into a small device in his hands, a holorecorder. My holorecorder.

"He can dive into my thoughts whenever he likes, so it is best to let my focus drift elsewhere. But you will never leave the deepest crevices of my mind, a part that is so utterly bright that Sidious has no grip there. We will meet again, my love, it is only a matter of time. And until then, Viera, I wish you godspeed, my love."

My father uttered his last words into the device, then glanced at the camera for a moment before ending the recording. He set the recorder down on the controls of the ship, then his face fell into his palms. I saw his shoulders shake and tremble under his thick robes. He was crying, silently. He lifted his head up, then stood on shaky, metallic legs. His eyes were bloodshot, and I could feel the sadness and despair rolling off of him through the force. He exited the cockpit and I followed. He entered a room with a bed. There was a young woman asleep in the bed, it was a younger version of my mother. He placed the device on the vacant side of the bed, presumably where he had been resting.

He removed a chain with a ring on it from his neck and held it close to the woman's head. He closed his eyes and focused. He then put the chain back around his neck. He took the chain and ring that hung from my mothers neck and held it in his hands for a moment. He didn't hold it as long. The rings seemed to now carry the other's presence. The presence left on my mother's ring was but an echo of my father's, but my father's was a bright beacon, identical to my mother's presence and even more potent.

He stared at her sleeping form for a moment. He placed his red and black hand on her cheek and she subconsciously leaned into the touch. With a shaky and trembling body, he planted one last kiss on her forehead before placing his own forehead against hers.

"I'm so sorry, my love. I'm so sorry." He whispered, his voice uneven and choked. 

He kissed her lips and whispered one last 'I love you' before getting up. He stood in the doorway, tears running down his cheek, staring at my mother before he left.

He then made one more stop. There was a smaller bed with a smaller humanoid in it. There was a small boy with crimson skin asleep in the bed.

It was me. 

My horns had just started protruding from my head, they were small but they declared me as a Zabrak.

He sat on the edge of the bed. he placed a hand on my sleeping head. With the same trembling movement he placed a hand to my cheek. I drowsily opened my eyes. The younger version of myself looked up at my father and whispered.

"Daddy?"

I could tell that I was not fully awake, as my eyes fluttered between being open and being closed.

He scooped four-year-old me up and I wrapped my small arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around me. He lightly bounced me and hummed a tune that I couldn't quite make out. Within a few minutes I had been lulled back into a deep sleep. My father held on me for another minute, holding me close.

I saw my father walk towards the bed and gently lay me down. He pulled the blankets up around me and he remained once again to just stare. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"Stay strong, my son. We will meet again." Tears ran down his cheek as he whispered this. His still shaking legs lifted him up once more and left the room.

He went to the hallway where there was a small pack in the corner.

He grabbed it and turned around to find a younger version of Kolin standing behind him.

"Maul." Kolin started, "Where are you going."

"Kolin, I am but a beacon to my former master, by staying I put all if you in danger." My father trailed off. "I do not want to leave, but every moment I stay puts their well being at risk."

"I understand." Kolin said, giving my father a sympathetic look. "Take care, brother."

"Protect them. Please, Kolin." My father pleaded.

"I will."

"Thank you." My father said. "Farewell, Kolin."

Kolin nodded and returned to his room. My father made his way to the secondary escape craft on the ship. It was a small fighter attachment with hyperspace capabilities, so it was good enough. He detached the ship and pulled away, letting his eyes linger on the larger shuttle that contained his family. 

With one last glance, he entered hyperspace, never to be seen by his family again.


	3. Into the Mist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I lost power and had work, but here you go! Chapter 3. Not much really happens character development wise, but this just moves the story along to where it needs to go and provides some flasbacks.

I awoke from the vision with a newly found clarity about my father's actions. All these years I had just assumed that he left because he didn't care about us, but it was just the opposite.

He cared so much that he left everything he held dear behind to protect us.

I had misjudged him for so long, and now a tear ran down my cheek.

"I'm sorry." I whispered into the empty cockpit.

I felt the ghost of a hand touching my shoulder, but that feeling was fleeting.

I looked at the time and I was about to drop out of hyperspace. Was I really out for two hours? Holy shit.

I dropped out of hyperspace a moment later. 

The Hyperlane intersection was busy as ever. The planet was the intersection of the Commenor Run, the Hydian Way, the Brentaal-Denon Route, the Corsin Run, and the Perlemian Trade Route. Ships were dropping in and out of hyperspace all around me. I also saw the massive Imperial dreadnoughts hovering above the intersection, probably running scans on all of the ships that came through. Which also meant it was time for me to go. I plugged the coordinates in for the Hydian Way and was gone before the Empire even knew I was there.

This jump was going to take significantly longer than the one from Alderaan to Brentaal. It would take almost two days to get from Brentaal to Bandomeer. The Hydian Way didn't go directly to Dathomir, so Bandomeer was as close as I was going to get. From there I would have to make a short jump to the orbital coordinates of Dathomir.

I spent the two days sleeping, eating the tasteless rations that were stored on the ship, and idly scrolling through my data pad. I would get bored and occasionally and meditate, but my head was never quite.

'Far above, far above! You don't know where you'll fall. Far above, Far above! What once was great is rendered small.' A phantom voice would chant. it was familiar, the voice of my father. It was unmistakably his voice, but it was crazed and desperate. So different than the one I had heard on the holorecorder.

I arrived at Bandomeer, and realized my fuel tank was low. I had best fill up here before I get stuck on Dathomir. I pulled a cloak from the closet. It was big on me, meant for a grown man not a twelve year old boy. With a few fold and tucks, I got it to come down to just below my ankles instead of dragging on the ground.

I pulled the hood over my head in an attempt to hide my identifying features. My face was still showing, but it was night time on Bantomeer, so my identity was protected by the shadows. I had chosen a nondescript family owned fueling station and began pumping the fuel. I sensed someone approaching and I turned around. A tall Nautolan man was approaching.

"Hey kid! Where's your parents?" He said as he closed the distance between us.

I always forgot that my stature would sometimes give away what my face would not.

"You need to be an adult to pump fuel here."

I tried thinking of a way to get out of this with no confrontation.

"Can you help me then?" I asked, putting on my best 'helpless little kid' impression. "My mom sent me out to get some fuel, she wasn't feeling well so I had to do it."

"Uh, sure thing, kid. You got credits?" 

"Yes sir." I said.

"Where are you from, kid?" The Nautolan said.

"Uh, Alderaan." I said before I could think of a better response.

Tons of people are from Alderaan, right? 

"Ha, you're a long way out." He said. "And your lucky too, you must have gotten out right before the blockade started."

"Blockade?" I stammered.

"Yeah. Some missing kid. Looks to be high profile. Probably some senator's kid or something. At least that what I've heard."

At that point my fuel tank was full. I paid and waved the nice Nautolan man goodbye.

I started the ship and made my way out of the fueling station. I thought about what the man had said about the blockade Maybe I was the missing kid. Does the Emperor want me so bad that he will cut off an entire planet to find me?

I calculated the jump to Dathomir. It would take less than an hour. When the calculations were made, I pushed the lever and flew into hyperspace. I dropped out of hyperspace just above Dathomir. It was covered in a red fog. 

How was I supposed to know where to go if I couldn't see shit?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I opened myself to the force and it guided me down to the surface, to a long clearing.

The ground was also covered in a heavy red mist. The terrain was swampy, but the clearing I was in was solid ground. I descended the ramp and was met with oppressive heat and mugginess. l was not used to these conditions, as I had grown up on a world with a very temperate climate. But my body adapted and I didn't feel as hot anymore. After all, this was my father's home world, and the home to the Zabrak subspecies- Dathomirian. 

Well, former home.

The ground was littered with rusting droid parts and bones. A lot of bones. Some with scraps of fabric still hanging from them.

I bent down and picked up the head of rusting droid. It was beige and slim, with two visual sensors for eyes. 

Even though the planet was always kind of dark, I knew it was getting to be night time. And I knew this planet had an all too generous population or rancors. I took the droid head with me and preceded up the ramp and closed it. I sat down at the main computer console and picked the rust out of the old droid's processor socket. Once it was adequately cleared of rust, I plugged the head into the retrieval computer. I could tell that the droids were Clone Wars era, Separatist issue. From the many things my uncle taught me, droids were my favorite. He taught me how to build them, fix them, modify them, really anything. He also taught me a good deal about ships too. He called me a mini mechanic. He always said I was good with machines.

The old B1 droid started to output information.

'Eradication of Nightsister Clan, ordered by General Greivous' The display said, dated eighteen years ago.

It then started to produce a holorecroding. A giant cyborg with four arms, wielding four lightsabers was battling who I can only assume was a Nightsister with two sabers of her own.

My mother had briefly told me about the Nightsister and Nightbrother Clans of Dathomir, but besides that, I knew little of my people.

The two battled viciously, but when it came down to pure fighting ability, the Nightsister won. The cyborg then ordered the droids surrounding the Nightsister to open fire, thus ending the fair match. She deflected the bolts, but ultimately fell back.

The droids overran the remaining Nightsisters in a matter of minutes. This particular droid was cut down by the lightsaber wielding Nightsister. And thus was how I found it eighteen years later.

I unplugged the droid head and placed it down on the console. I realized just how tired I was, and decided to go to bed.

My dreams weren't quiet, though.

I saw Nightsister standing around an altar. A yellow-green Nightbrother lay upon the altar, with green mist swirling around him. HE grew in size, becoming taller and more muscular. He was set back down upon the altar. The leader, the Mother of the clan, tapped her finger on the forehead of the man and he awoke. He saw the Nightsister leaning over him, the one who had fought the cyborg and had two lightsabers. He reached out and grabbed her neck, choking her. She said to let him go, and he released her. He stood up, now towering above the women below him.

They dragged another Nightbrother into view, this one much smaller that the modified one.

"Savage?" The smaller one called out.

Savage? That was my uncle's name. Is this my uncle? My father's brother?

"Kill him." The Nightsister said.

The smaller man begged him, "We are kin! Don't do this!" He pleaded, but Savage picked him up by his neck and choked him.

"Brother, please!" The smaller man choked out before his neck was crushed by Savage.

Brother? Was this Feral? The other uncle my mother told me about?

The vision ended and I awoke. This was why my mother wouldn't tell me of my other uncles. She said she would another time, when I was older, but this was why. The Nightsisters plagued Savage's mind, making him into a monster, making him kill his own brother as a test of loyalty.

How could I have come from such brutality? It all made no sense.

I didn't feel like sleeping anymore.

I walked over to the droid head I discarded earlier. I had an idea.

I lowered the ramp and descended slowly. I made my way to nearest mound of broken droids and picked through, grabbing an arm here, a leg there, some processors, and everything I would need to rebuild a droid.

The wring was in good shape despite all odds. I just had to clean them with a de-rusting agent and I was ready to reassemble it. 

Then I realized, these droids were meant for battle, not everyday use on a ship. I rummaged through some compartments and I eventually found a very old astromech.

Perfect. I just needed its body. I made quick work of detaching the dome and its limbs. I wired the B1 head to the dome fixture, and attached B1 arms to where its two side rollers would be. I attached the bottom half of a B2 droid to the socket where the front roller would be. It looked very awkward, but it had everything I needed. It took a lot of cross wiring and programming, but after four hours, it sparked to life.

It sat its clunky astromech torso up and calibrated its balance sensors. It slowly stood, and was about a foot taller than me.

"B1-S1D720 reporting." It said in the nasally voice of a B1 droid. "Are you the maker?" It asked.

Right, I did a memory wipe, and replaced B1 CPU with the astromech one. This would make it less hostile and more user friendly.

"Uh, yes."

"Great! I am B1-S1D7-"

"I know. Um, lets call you Sid."

"Sid? But my programmed name is B1- S-"

"Well, not anymore. I'm 'the maker' so I say that your name is Sid." I said.

"Very well, Maker, What shall I call you?"

"Sabel."

"Very well, Sabel. I am at your service. But good heavens may I have some anti-rust, my gears are catching."

"I already put some on, you were sitting unused for eighteen years so this is what you get."

"How rude! It wasn't my fault that the witch cut me down! I was just doing my job!" Sid snapped back.

"How do you remember that! I-"

"Yes you did wipe the memory on the astromech and the B2, but not the B1 part of me." 

"Great, what are you gunna do now, report me to the Seppies?" I asked sarcastically.

"I have been trying but command is not responding."

"Did you not hear me when I said that you were sitting in a pile of spare parts for eighteen years? The Separatists lost. A long time ago. You belong to me now."

"I suppose you are correct. Please forgive my treachery."

"You're lucky that I'm short on company right now." I said. "and I need someone to help me watch out for rancors."

"Rancors? We're still on Dathomir, why would you want to stay here? do you have a wire loose?"

"That's too bad, we're staying. Now go make yourself useful and calibrate all the systems while I go sleep." I said.

"Fine, but you best work on your manners, young man. Not all droids are as nice as I am." Sid said as he went towards the mechanical room.

"You definitely have the attitude of an astromech." I called back as I went towards my sleep quarters.

Rebuilding a droid tired me out, and now I hoped that I could have some fitful sleep.


End file.
